The Muse Is a Fickle Creature—M.G. Sondraal

The Muse is a fickle creature. Waiting for her arrival is the ultimate in procrastination and I’ve wasted a lot of time hoping for inspiration to strike. I’ve also spent inordinate amounts of time trying to draft the perfect first sentence, first paragraph, first chapter. This is a futile exercise and utterly paralyzing. I now realize they are illusions that prevent forward momentum.

I believe a daily writing habit is crucial for productivity and see it every November when the tyranny of the NaNoWriMo word count looms large. By the end of the month, writing becomes compulsive as the story is taking shape and I can imagine the first draft completed.

I’m most productive in the morning, so that’s when I try to write. At the end of the day, I’m tired and, though I may think about the WIP and the next scene, I don’t spend much time at the keyboard. I don’t have one particular spot to write. I have a couple of places outdoors when the weather permits, where I can comfortably write, listening to bird song and rustling leaves, and a couple indoors--a desk with my vision board and affirmational sayings nearby and a comfy chair in front of the fire for when it’s chilly. My mood and the point in the story guide where I begin.

I’m fueled by coffee, don’t bother with anything else to eat or drink and don’t typically listen to music, preferring nature sounds or the white noise of the washing machine or dishwasher if silence is troublesome.

Mostly, I try to leave a scene unfinished so I can easily pick up where I left off the preceding day, and then continue to the next scene that I thought about after the mechanics of writing the day before ended. This way I don’t face that intimidating blank page or blank screen first thing in the morning.

When I’m stuck, and can’t think of the next “what if” to move the story along, I take a break. A solo walk or drive often allows me to let my mind wander just enough to see my way to the next plot twist. If I’m absolutely stalled, I’ll edit a different work further along in its development, or write a short story, knowing that my subconscious will continue to toil away and an idea will pop up later. Sometimes switching to a different writing project is insufficient to identify the specifics of that next step. I’m a plotter, so I’ll write the ending or a pivotal scene later in the novel and that may help dredge up a solution to the block. I talk to individual writing group members or the entire group and those discussions frequently point me in the right direction.

Occasionally, when nothing is working, a vacation from writing for a day, or a week, or more, is necessary to recharge the creative batteries. And that’s fine, but continue to think and reflect and test theories for how the story can develop. Returning to a daily writing habit becomes more difficult for me with longer lapses, so I tend to challenge myself every day or two with reading or editing my work as well. Finally, when all else fails, write something. Even if it’s hackneyed and predictable, it will hold the place and when the first draft is done, you’ll figure out how to fix it in subsequent drafts.

I have confidence that bitch, the Muse, will show up at a most inconvenient time with exactly the idea to jumpstart the project, but I’m not waiting on her whim. She’s too unreliable.